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The Cost of Neglecting Your Spirituality

The following article is excerpted from the article The Cost of Neglecting Spirituality by Arsh Sarao.

What if the most overlooked factor in your health isn’t what you eat or how you exercise, but what you believe?

A doctor in a stressful practice found it difficult to lift himself out of the depression that medical practice brought to him. That’s when he decided to embrace a spiritual routine. He began meditating for a few minutes every day and hasn’t stopped since. According to him, this simple lifestyle change has helped him reclaim his well-being. He has come a long way from being an anxious and depressed intern to an optimistic, caring, full-time doctor assisting in the emergency room.

Studies find spirituality to be associated with benefits such as better mental health, longevity, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. A general culture of “neglected spirituality” has led many to find it hard to believe that there is a connection between spirituality and health.

Here are the benefits you might miss by neglecting spirituality.

Raindrops and Eggs

By John Kruse

Published with Permission 

The stones were dry and hot from the baking sunlight, it had been a long drought, but now the rain and the melted snow high on the mountain formed a waterfall cascading over the rocks. Swallows came to nest on a cliff nearby, building their nests of mud and straw where they protect their eggs and raise their chicks. To human ears the sound made by The Waterfall is but rumbling and gurgling. But the birds would speak to the waterfall and It would speak to them. 

Together they pondered life's Greater meaning, the Purpose of all things, how the lives of the birds go on from generation to generation. And the waterfall pondered the question; Am I here because of the water that flows through and downstream eventually into the ocean. Does running water Make me who I am or is it the shape of the Rocks that the waters run across and give me my form, my existence?

Time seemed to flow by quickly for the waterfall, soon the little swallows grew strong and flew away and so did their parents. The dry winds came again. The Waterfall wondered would he remember his little friends when they returned, would he be the same, would the Waterfall know itself as it knows itself now? With that thought the waterfall ceased to be, yet in time a raindrop fell and then another and another. The waterfall was alive and happy once more, even more so when its feathered friends returned.

The waterfall asked the birds; Am I the same waterfall each time you return or am I a new waterfall? Do you have a name that you call me? The mother swallow said "we simply call you Our Waterfall because you are the same each time we return". Time went by and the dry winds came and the waterfall turned into a trickle, the birds flew away. Soon the waterfall was only dry rocks that lay on the hillside in dreamless sleep. But then one day a raindrop fell and another and another and the sound of feathered wings filled the air.

Thinking of Mind, Body, One

We conclude this series with insights and excerpts from the article Our Perception of Time Changes How We Heal in this final posting.  

In The Perception of Time Influences Healing Independent of Actual Time we learned that abstract psychological precepts, such as those that guide how we perceive the passage of time, can significantly impact physical health outcomes. 

In The Effect of Mind On the Body we learned that something as vague as a thought can influence the physical world and that our bodies incorporate multiple systems that encompass both body and mind, changing as a whole. And we considered the effect that a “third partner” plays. This installment concludes the reporting on this article.

We are accustomed to thinking of the body and mind as separate components. What does it mean to think of body and mind as a single unit?

“When the mind and body constitute a single system, any change in a person simultaneously creates change at the level of thought (i.e., cognitive change) and at the level of the body (hormonal, neural, and/or behavioral change). When we open our minds to the idea of body-mind unity, new possibilities for controlling our health become available and tangible.”

The Effect of Mind On the Body

 We continue with insights and excerpts from the article Our Perception of Time Changes How We Heal in this second posting.  The conclusion will be shared in the next posting.

In The Perception of Time Influences Healing Independent of Actual Time we learned that abstract psychological precepts, such as those that guide how we perceive the passage of time, can significantly impact physical health outcomes.

The idea of the mind’s influence on the body was investigated in a groundbreaking study conducted in 1979. Men in their 70s and 80s, spent a week in a facility entirely designed to resemble the 1950s, a period when the participants were 20 years younger. The pictures on the walls, the books on the shelves, the magazines on the table, and even the radio and TV broadcasts were all tailored to events from 1959. 

Not only were the participants asked to imagine themselves as being 20 years younger and to converse as such, but they were also required to be unusually self-reliant. They had to take care of everything themselves: preparing meals and even carrying their luggage to the second-floor rooms, even if it meant doing so in stages, one item at a time.

“The results were astonishing. In just one week, their hearing improved, their vision sharpened, and their memory and physical strength increased. They even visibly appeared younger, all without any medical intervention,” the researcher reported.

The Perception of Time Influences Healing Independent of Actual Time

Insights and excerpts from the article Our Perception of Time Changes How We Heal will be shared over a series of SOW postings.

Typically, when considering healing time, we think about the depth of the cut, the severity of the wound, or which organs were affected. However, a study published in December 2023 found another significant factor that seems to influence healing speed–the perception of time passed.

“We saw that the healing rate of the wound depended on the duration of time as perceived by the participant. Our results contribute to a growing body of evidence suggesting that abstract psychological precepts, such as those that guide how we perceive the passage of time, can significantly impact physical health outcomes.”

Actions & Routines, Habits & Rituals

This brief presentation is stimulated by a recent post on our SOW (Sharing of Wisdom) Blog. 

What comes to mind when the word ritual is used to describe a ceremony?  Just throw some some quick initial thoughts out there, then tonight I will share with you some concepts on Ritual.

A ritual is defined as a set of actions or words performed in a regular way.  We often think of ritual as some form of ceremony, but a ritual is also any act done regularly as a matter of usual course.  

But more than a choreographed ceremony, ritual in its defined form is much more than just some ceremony.  There is a hierarchy of action and ritual is the highest level of this hierarchy.  Let's see what this hierarchy is and what makes it special.

Hidden Powers of Ritual

A ritual is defined as a set of actions or words performed in a regular way.  Often we associate religious or other faith ceremonies as ritual, but a ritual is also any act done regularly as a matter of usual course.  

A book entitled The Hidden Powers of Ritual, The Journey of a Lifetime, by Brad Shore, points out that while a great deal of our life is influenced by forces over which we have little direct control, ritual gives us a powerful tool for helping to shape and reshape our lives.  

A ritual comes into being when ordinary behavior is repeated until it begins to harden into recognizable action patterns we call routines.  

Routines simplify our lives by offloading complex actions from our working memory so that we may do them without much cognitive effort.  

But a ritual takes routine a step further.  More than just unthinking action a ritual can be thought of as a routine with a significant symbolic load.  Rituals mean something special.  Rituals are a powerful way of tuning social relationships and keeping them in good form.

TEMPTATION: 4) Restoration

We have studied how Jesus was tempted by the Opposer of the ONE in the wilderness and we have learned how Jesus avoided succumbing to the temptation.  However, as humans, we often fall short of our desired expectations.  Our human tendency is often to berate or punish ourselves for our failure.  But there is no need.  We need but learn from or mistakes and errors.  The best way to learn is to admit the error, mistake or willful deviation from the ideal, make the intention to not repeat it and to continue to walk the road towards the ONE.  Forgive ourselves (set our self free of having erred) for making it and make a conscious effort not to repeat it.  The potentially triggering word for this process is confession.

Confess merely means “to admit together” and basically entails you telling the ONE (who already knows) about what the YOU (the one who erred), admitting your limitation and what you learned from it and moving on.

What's it All About? ME? God? Something else?

The physical world lives with the expectation that we look out for ourselves first and foremost. But more than just self-preservation, like little school children we crave that praise that feeds our ego. We SEEK glory for ourselves.  

In the third temptation of Jesus the biblical devil took the Lord to a high mountain and showed Him all the world’s kingdoms, offering Jesus control of the world in return for worship of the devil. One can almost hear Satan as he tempted Jesus:  “Look human, I can strategize ways for you to become the ruler of the world, I can scheme and tempt people to do what I want.  I can turn that to YOUR benefit if you will just worship me and give ME glory!”

Satan had used two very different tactics in his first two temptations of Jesus. First, he tried to tempt Jesus into satisfying a legitimate physical appetite in a completely wrong way. He tempted the body of Jesus.

TEMPTATION: 3) “OK God….Prove It!“

We often desire to choose the “easy” way rather than the “hard” way. But it is our “journey through the wilderness” that molds and shapes us to become who we are.

Here we focus on the second temptation of Jesus. This time, the devil took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to tempt Him to test God by asking Him to leap off the pinnacle and have God rescue Him. Again, Jesus quoted Scripture, this time from Deuteronomy 6. 

Inspiration Concepts; Messages, and Mental Resistors

I saw this article and it seems to be a good, concise source looking into the concept of inspiration.  It is shared as a reference for exploration moreso than as a declaration of fact.  The source for this article is the article Inspiration in Biblical Times, by Rodney Caruthers II from the Fall 2023, Biblical Archaeology Review.  The article is excerpted here and some commentary is added.

“Modern notions of inspiration often evoke images of writers, artists, and musicians who experience moments when their creative powers are at their zenith…. Modern concepts of inspiration, however, are sometimes anachronistically applied to ancient texts.” 

Chivalry and the Divine Feminine

"Chivalry is dead" is a frequently stated lament.  But can chivalry die and what role does the divine feminine play in it?

In the book Chivalry: Dizain des Reines, by James Branch Cabell, the following statement is made: "each age develops its code...it presents an ideal to be lived up to; it gives direction to the uncertain, stray impulses of life….  Its requirements are less of the intellect than of the heart."

Cabell's work states that chivalry is putting "God, honor, and mistress above all else, and stipulates that a knight shall serve these three without any reservation." 

Lest anyone think that sexism is the focus here, I will take this opportunity to remind us that the word "mistress" is from an Old French word indicating a female teacher--maistresse, a feminine form of maistre "master"-- itself from the Latin magister "chief, head, director, teacher"; it is derived from ancient words indicating "teacher, tutor, master; complete, whole, great, mighty; great, large, overall". 

So why did chivalry focus on the feminine?  History.  Chivalry “is brought forward to us from a dark time in history, from days when men fought one another, fought the harsh world that had broken Roman order, fought against the plagues visited upon Europe...." Out of this harsh environment "the idea of chivalry came...like a phoenix." 

OPINION: Wisdom, Strength AND Beauty

People of like belief, trust, and practice congregate to learn and practice their faith and/or their religion in fellowship and companionship. Such groups tend to become a governor of practice and action as “peer pressure” leads to conformity. 

Where people congregate to exist--to “stand forth”; or to live--they have an effect upon their environment.  Where they desire to remain or continue with unspent energy or power is often referred to as their state.  Such groups also tend to become a governor of practice and action as “peer pressure” frequently demands conformity.

Wisdom schools (sometimes referred to as Mystery Schools) are a place where spiritual maturing men and women of faith congregate to learn and practice wisdom in fellowship. The wisdom school, instead of a being regulator is an influencer--an emanation from the heavens that acts upon one’s character and destiny, and action.  

Truth, Love and Authenticity

Spirit Science posted today the video below.  The concept that I wish to share and discuss is based on the concepts presented there.

They reported a visionary experience that included Thot writing on a tablet and then seeing that the tablet said:

Truth is the Law

Love is the Law

Authenticity is the Law

Why Read?

“Read a Blog?!  WHY?!”  Aren't videos cooler?"

Some people don’t want to take the time to read.  However, there are a number of benefits to actively reading some of these blog postings.  Active reading engages a number of the parts of your brain and is preferable to passively absorbing someone else’s opinion via audio or visual stimulation. That does not make these forms of learning less valuable, but making the time for reading carries benefits that passive education alone doesn’t offer.

Here are but some benefits to taking the time to regularly read.

TEMPTATION: 1) “The Devil Made Me do it!”

I want to share excerpts from a series of studies that look into some of the temptations that we humans deal with.

This is a biblically based study, so there will be biblical references, but dogma is at a minimum here.  This article looks at the wisdom associated with each particular aspect of the study.  My hope is that you may enjoy this seed of wisdom and that it may be useful to you.  Enjoy!

At the end of each article is a link to the next in the series.

TEMPTATION: 2) “I Can Do It Myself! Leave Me Alone!”

This is a biblically based study, so there will be biblical references, but dogma is at a minimum here. 

We live in a materialistic culture that is focused on pleasure and instant gratification. It seems that everything is promoted and advertised in terms of how it will make life pleasurable—and make it pleasurable now.  

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action, usually with respect to an offering, such as an item for sale or a service. The word advertise literally means "to turn toward," from Latin words ad "to, toward" + vertere "to turn".  There is no shortage of people who want to turn your attention to something that THEY desire to promote.  

A Call to Moral Excellence

Excerpted from an article by the same title published in Epoch Times, July 5-11, 2023

By Mike Morrell

“What, then, is virtue?” … for more than 3,000 years…philosophers… esteemed it to be a quality of the soul:  not a condition one is born with but rather the result of years of self-discipline.

In classical thought, virtues were defined as good habits that aim toward a higher end in life. … the person who consistently chooses to ack justly becomes just.  One who persistently chooses moderation in food and drink becomes moderate.  The choice between write and wrong actions [or more appropriately beneficial or harmful actions] today has far-reaching implications:  We become what we do.  The path of virtue (or vice) can change our souls and our final destiny…virtue is the highest principle of human action.

Liberty

“Give me Liberty or give me death.”  —Patrick Henry

It is nearing July 4th.  A holiday in the United States where we celebrate the birth of our own country and its liberty from another country an ocean away.  

The quote above, attributed to Patrick Henry, displays the passion with which the "colonial rebels" desired to "break away" from the "mother county" and seek their independence.  In this Sharing of Wisdom article let's look at liberty.